A Volkswagen subsidiary that backed out of a contract to install electric vehicle charging stations in Midtown never intended to go ahead with the plan, the building’s owners claim in a $4 million lawsuit.
Electrify America Inc. notified owner Executive Workspace in May that it was terminating the lease it signed for the space at 1120 Avenue of the Americas after it allegedly failed to apply for required charging station permits from the city’s Buildings Department.
Electrify America, which touts plans to have about 1,800 charging stations and 10,000 chargers in operation or “in development” across the U.S. and Canada by 2026, blamed economic reasons for terminating the agreement.
But Executive Workspace said in the filing that the charging stations were merely a ploy to meet the requirements of a roughly $15 billion settlement the German automaker agreed to after its infamous 2015 scandal, in which it was accused of falsifying emissions test results for 11 million vehicles.
Strengthening America’s zero-emission vehicle infrastructure was part of that huge settlement.
According to court documents, Electrify America and Volkswagen used the settlement to convince executives that they were committed to installing charging stations in their executive workspaces.
Executive Workspace, LLC owns Edison Properties and Elevated NY, which leases furnished office space at the Hippodrome. The company signed a 10-year lease with Electrify America in November 2022.
“We don’t want other landlords to be treated the way my clients were,” Executive Workspace attorney Adam Lightman Bailey told The Washington Post.
There are three Electrify America charging stations in the five boroughs: one in Elmhurst, Queens, one in Flushing, and a third at JFK Airport.
Electrify America did not respond to a message seeking comment.
A lawyer for Volkswagen declined to comment but noted the company is not a party to the lawsuit.
